---
title: "ChatGPT's new Computer History feature tracks your clicks and keystrokes"
url: https://www.parallelquant.com/posts/chatgpt-s-new-computer-history-feature-tracks-your-clicks-and-keystrokes-5b321e
source_name: "The Verge"
source_url: https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/980742/chatgpts-computer-history-tracks-your-clicks-and-keystrokes
published: 2026-08-16T14:56:40.000Z
topics: ["products", "llms"]
publisher: "Parallel Quant"
---

# ChatGPT's new Computer History feature tracks your clicks and keystrokes

*2026-08-16 · Source: [The Verge](https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/980742/chatgpts-computer-history-tracks-your-clicks-and-keystrokes)*

OpenAI added a Computer History feature to ChatGPT's macOS desktop app that records user actions to build a timeline, which ChatGPT and Codex can reference to suggest automations or pick up half-finished tasks. The feature is opt-in, lets users exclude specific apps or sites, and automatically ignores private/incognito browser tabs.

**Why it matters:** This pushes ChatGPT further from a chat interface toward an ambient assistant that continuously observes computer use, echoing the direction other agentic desktop tools are heading. The opt-in design and exclusion controls suggest OpenAI is trying to get ahead of the privacy concerns that always-on activity tracking invites.

**Topics:** products, llms

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Read the original: https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/980742/chatgpts-computer-history-tracks-your-clicks-and-keystrokes
Canonical: https://www.parallelquant.com/posts/chatgpt-s-new-computer-history-feature-tracks-your-clicks-and-keystrokes-5b321e
Published by Parallel Quant — https://www.parallelquant.com